The Kamm research group works on five broad areas: Biological Machines/Microfluidics, Angiogenesis/Vasculogenesis, Neurological Diseases, Cancer, and Simulation and modeling.

Over the past 10 years, the Mechanobiology group has developed various microfluidic platforms for mimicking the three dimensional microenvironment and investigating the role of mechanical stimuli, such as interstitial flow, cyclic strain, and ECM stiffness gradients, on cellular processes including cell migration, angiogenesis, and differentiation. Recently, they have drawn upon their understanding of mechanobiology to direct the function of multicellular systems. For example, the angiogenesis model was extended to build functional vascular networks in vitro, and stem cells were differentiated into cardiomyocytes through application of strain. As the complexity of synthetic modules is increased towards building biological machines, mechanics will play a more significant role, particularly in the engineering of neurons and myocytes for sensing and actuation. The Mechanobiology group will employ mechanical engineering as a tool to address this complexity while simultaneously extending our understanding of mechanotransduction.

Elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2023